On a day of upsets in men’s singles at the Thailand Open Super 500 in Bangkok, one was quite significant. A 21-year-old who came through the qualifying rounds, ranked 75 places below his famed opponent from the same country, pulled off a straight-games win. It was a day to remember for Maisnam Meiraba Luwang as he defeated India No 1 HS Prannoy 21-19, 21-18 in a hard-fought 55-minute battle to reach the round of 16.
This result adds a layer of concern to the Paris-bound Prannoy’s build-up to the Olympics, after what appeared to be a turnaround at the Thomas Cup. With the qualification period now over, perhaps the focus will be more on fitness during training blocks, though taking care of ranking for seeding purposes is also on the cards. But that’s for another day. The result on Wednesday was a timely reminder of Meiraba’s potential – and comes at a time when he perhaps needs it desperately as he looks to overcome consistency issues.
“It’s a good win for him after a very long time, but I won’t read too much into this because Meriraba has been inconsistent,” Sagar Chopda, coach at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, told The Indian Express. “He’s been struggling with his performances for almost a year now. But the All India ranking tournament win was good for him last month. He should have done better in the last two tournaments he played in Europe. But yeah this is a really good win for him against Prannoy, it’s been a long time coming.”
Having climbed up as high as No. 2 in the junior world rankings at the backend of 2020, the transition to senior circuit hasn’t been easy for the Manipuri youngster. In 2023, he played more than 20 tournaments on the circuit and didn’t win a match in 11 of them. So the plan was to take a step back to move forward.
“There have been some straight and strict talks with him by Coach Vimal (Kumar) and Prakash sir also. As a junior, he was one of those guys who was seen as a bet to do well in the senior circuit,” Sagar said. “Everybody expected him to do well, but he could not live up to that. His thought process was probably not the best, maybe ranking was what was in his mind and I think that has changed to some extent now. The peers who were with him have gone much higher. Even maybe some of the juniors who were behind him have gone ahead. That I think has been an eye-opener for him.”
The idea has been to focus more on training instead of just constantly playing tournaments and for now, it is working. After registering two wins on Tuesday in the qualifying rounds, he notched up arguably the biggest result in the senior circuit as he frustrated Prannoy with his sturdy defence. “I approached it like any other duel and (for some reason) I was feeling more confident than usual. If I keep training the way I train, I could play way better than this,” Meiraba told BWF.
“Meiraba played a rock solid retrieving game against Prannoy, and that is his strength,” Sagar said. “His defense is his big positive. He doesn’t get scared to play defensive badminton, use the tosses. Against Prannoy it clicked well.”
Initiated to badminton by father and coach Maisnam Romesh Luwang – who was also a national level shuttler in his days – the Manipuri player shifted base to Bengaluru in 2013 to train at PPBA. Sagar said that, within the academy, he was even seen as the next best thing after Lakshya Sen. A naturally well-built athlete with broad shoulders, taller than Prannoy even, strength and endurance on court weren’t seen as issues for Meiraba. He is, however, seen as a tricky athlete to work with sometimes, prone to mood swings. It’s been a quest to bring in the right amount of balance between training and making him understand his own caliber.
“Coming from the North East, he was always strong, blessed with good genetics. His speed and agility are very good, it is only about implementing his tactics better on court. He is still the right age,” Sagar asserted. “I’d probably rate his defensive retrieval skills even better than Lakshya. Just that Lakshya is able to inject pace consistently. That is where he can get better. If this win can give him a little bit of confidence that he’s there at a good level, then that’s important.”
It could have been an all-PPBA affair in the second round but Mads Christophersen’s win over Kiran George meant that Meiraba will have a Danish test on Thursday. He has beaten the world No 54 in the past, with the Head-to-Head at 1-1. Also reaching the round of 16 was Ashmita Chaliha – who overcame Indonesia’s Uber Cup star Ester Wardoyo – while top seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also sealed their progress.
